COAL PETER
LITTLE GLASS MAN
DUTCH MICHAEL
EZEKIEL
SCHLURKER
DANCE HALL KING
LISBETH
BEGGAR
MILLER
MILLER’S WIFE
MILLER’S SON
A VOICE
POSTILION
Prologue
RADIO ANNOUNCER: Dear Radio Listeners, welcome once again to the Youth Hour. Today I think I will read you another fairy tale. But which one shall I read? Let’s have a look in our big dictionary, filled with the names of all of the writers of fairy tales, kind of like a telephone book. I should be able to pick one out from there. So, A as in abracadabra? That’s not for us. Let’s leaf through the book a little further. B as in Bechstein … that would be good, but we just had him recently.
A knock at the door.
C as in Celsius, as opposed to Réaumur. D, E, F, G.
Louder knocking at the door.
H as in Hauff, Wilhelm Hauff, yes, that’s the one for us.
Even louder pounding at the door.
What is this devilish noise here at the radio station? Good heavens! How are we to get on with our Youth Hour! Very well, come on in! (Whispering.) They are ruining the whole Youth Hour — Well, what is it then? How strange you are! What do you want?
COAL PETER: We are the characters from “The Cold Heart,” the fairy tale by Wilhelm Hauff.
ANNOUNCER: From “The Cold Heart” by Wilhelm Hauff? Well, you have come right on cue! But how did you get here? Don’t you know this is a radio station? You can’t just come barging in!
COAL PETER: Are you the Announcer?
ANNOUNCER: Indeed, I am.
COAL PETER: Well, then we are in the right place. Everybody, come on in and close the door. And perhaps now we should introduce ourselves.
ANNOUNCER: Yes, but—
The introduction of each character from the fairy tale is accompanied by a little melody played on a music box.3
COAL PETER: I am Peter Munk, born in the Black Forest. They call me Coal Peter, because along with my father’s guild jacket with the silver buttons, and the red stockings for special occasions, I also inherited the trade of charcoal-burner.
LITTLE GLASS MAN: I am the Little Glass Man. I am only three and a half feet tall, but I have great power over the fates of human beings. If you were born lucky, Mr. Announcer, and some day you’re taking a walk through the Black Forest, and you see a little man in front of you in a peaked hat with a broad brim, a doublet, pantaloons, and short red stockings, then make your wish quick, for then you have caught sight of me.
DUTCH MICHAEL: And I am Dutch Michael. My jacket is of dark linen, I wear my trousers of black leather with broad, green suspenders. And in my pocket I carry a ruler made of brass, and along with that I wear the boots of a raftsman, but all of it is so grossly oversized that for the boots alone a dozen calves were needed.
EZEKIEL: I am fat Ezekiel, so named because my girth is so colossal. And I can afford it. I am considered the richest man in the area, and rightly so. Twice a year I travel to Amsterdam to deliver lumber, and while all the others must return on foot, I can ride in a coach.
SCHLURKER: I am tall Schlurker, the tallest and thinnest man in the whole of the Black Forest. I am also the boldest; in an overcrowded pub, I always take up more room than four fat men together.
DANCE HALL KING (coyly): Allow me to introduce myself, Mr. Announcer. I am the Dance Hall King.
DUTCH MICHAEL (interrupting him): That’ll do, Dance Hall King, no need to put on airs here. I know where your money comes from, and that you were once a lowly woodcutter.
LISBETH: I am Miss Lisbeth, the daughter of a poor lumberjack. I am, however, the most beautiful and virtuous woman in all the Black Forest and I am engaged to be married to Peter Munk.
BEGGAR: And I am the very last, for I am nothing but a poor beggar. Yet, I will have an important, if small, role to play.
ANNOUNCER: Well, I’ve heard so much about you, my head is spinning. But what brings you here to the radio station? Why are you disturbing me in my work?
COAL PETER: To tell you the truth, Mr. Announcer, we really wanted to visit Voice Land just once.
ANNOUNCER: Voice Land? Coal Peter, how am I supposed to understand that? You will have to explain in a little more detail.
COAL PETER: You see, Mr. Announcer, we’ve already been in Hauff’s fairy-tale book for one hundred years now. Normally, we can only speak to one child at a time. But now it is supposedly the fashion for fairy-tale characters to step out of books and cross over into Voice Land, where they can introduce themselves to many thousands of children all at once. That’s what we would like to do and we were told that you, Mr. Announcer, were just the man to help us.
ANNOUNCER (flattered): That may be true, if you mean the Radio Voice Land.
DUTCH MICHAEL (rudely): That’s what we do mean! So, let us in, Mr. Announcer, there’s no time to show us the fine print.
EZEKIEL (rudely): Stop your blabbing, Michael. Here in Voice Land one can’t see anything at all!
COAL PETER: One certainly can see in Voice Land, but one cannot be seen. That’s what’s bothering you, I can tell. You are, of course, not happy when you can’t get all rigged up in your chains and scarves and handkerchiefs. But consider what you get in return. Everyone can hear you, as far as the eye can see from the highest mountain in the Black Forest and beyond, and you don’t even have to raise your voice.
DANCE HALL KING: Thinking about it, Coal Peter, I still can’t agree. The Black Forest, well, that’s a place I know my way around — but Voice Land, there I would get lost, I’m afraid, and every moment stumble over roots.
EZEKIEL: Roots! There aren’t any roots in Voice Land!
COAL PETER: Don’t let yourself be deceived, Dance Hall King. Of course there are roots. Just as on Earth, Voice Land has a Black Forest, and villages, cities, rivers, and clouds. But they can’t be seen on Earth, only heard; on Earth, everything that goes on in Voice Land can be heard but not seen. But once you’ve entered, you’ll quickly know your way around just as well as you do here.
ANNOUNCER: And if anything goes wrong — that’s why I’m here: the Announcer. We at the radio station know our way around like the back of our own hands.
DUTCH MICHAEL (rudely): Well then, Mr. Announcer, let us in already.
ANNOUNCER: Not so fast, Dutch Michael, you brute! It’s not that easy! You can come into Voice Land and speak to thousands of children, but I patrol the borders of this country and there’s a condition you must first fulfill.
LISBETH: A condition?
ANNOUNCER: Yes, indeed, Miss Lisbeth, and one that will be especially difficult for you to fulfill.
LITTLE GLASS MAN: Well then, name your condition. I am certainly used to conditions, I often set them myself.
ANNOUNCER: Alright, listen closely, Little Glass Man, and you others too: whoever wishes to enter Voice Land must be very modest. He must surrender all finery and relinquish all external beauty, so that nothing is left but his voice. However, his voice will then be heard by thousands of children simultaneously.
Pause.
Well, I’m afraid that is the condition from which I cannot stray. Think it over for a moment if you like.
COAL PETER (whispering): What do all of you think of that? Are you ready, Lisbeth, to give up your pretty Sunday dress?
LISBETH (whispering): Yes, of course, what is it to me! If we can really speak to thousands of children!